/pg/ - Platonism General: Plato's Dialogues

/pg/ - Platonism General: Plato's Dialogues

The following is the general order the Neoplatonists of Iamblichus, Syrianus, and Proclus' school [The Anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic Doctrine] recommended reading Plato's dialogues in, merged with recommendations from previous threads and John M. Cooper's order.

If you get stuck with something Plato is saying, check either Proclus or Ficino's commentaries. If, somehow, they don't resolve the aporia, go to the secondary sources list. The dialogues with "⦾" are marked as essential parts of the "Platonic Canon" by the three aforementioned Neoplatonists: a decad crowned by the Timaeus and Parmenides. Curiously, the Republic and Laws were not part of the curriculum. Those marked with "*" are of disputed authorship or is confirmed to be written by Plato's students but circulated under his name. Once you finish Timaeus and Parmenides (esp. the latter), you can comfortably start reading the Neoplatonists.

-- THE ORDER OF PLATO'S DIALOGUES --

⦾ Alcibiades I
>Protagoras
⦾ Gorgias
>Laws, Books I-V
>Euthyphro
>Apology
>Crito
⦾ Phaedo

⦾ Cratylus
⦾ Theaetetus
⦾ Sophist
⦾ Statesman
>Laws, Book X
>Meno
⦾ Phaedrus
>Ion
⦾ Symposium
⦾ Philebus
>Republic
⦾ Timaeus
>Critias
⦾ Parmenides
>Laws, Books VI-IX, XI-XXVI
>Epinomis*

>The Letters

>Alcibiades II*
>Hipparchus
>Rival Lovers*
>Theages*
>Charmides
>Laches
>Lysis
>Euthydemus
>Greater Hippias
>Lesser Hippias
>Menexenus
>Clitophon
>Minos*

>Definitions*
>On Justice*
>On Virtue*
>Demodocus
>Sisyphus*
>Halcyon*
>Eryxias*
>Axiochus*
>Epigrams*